Conde Nast's recent announcement to merge Lucky Magazine with BeachMint, an online retailer, follows the relaunch of Domino Magazine, another Conde property, as an e-commerce store. The New York media giant isn't the only one blurring the line between content and commerce. Meredith, Thrillist and Gawker are other prominent publishers investing considerable resources in commerce.

We conducted an informal survey with our native advertising clients at MGID and found that 100% of our advertisers say that "publisher's quality" is the most important component for effective native advertising.

Another study by Hexagram conducted about the state of native advertising among publishers, advertisers, brands & agencies, found that 84% of publishers thought that native advertising adds value for consumers. Results of the same research state that 62% of publishers are currently offering native advertising opportunities for advertisers.

So, how to get the ripe fruit of native advertising, which is not always "low hanging?" In our experience with thousands of successful campaigns for publishers worldwide we recommend the top seven hardest working strategies for publishers that will yield effective native advertising.

Over the last few years, much of the marketing world has turned to content marketing: the idea that the best way to engage with audiences and raise your visibility is to share robust, usually educational content for free. This content takes many forms - blogs, videos, podcasts, books (and particularly ebooks, given their ease of distribution), material on social media, and more. Basically, anywhere and any way that folks learn.

Recent studies have, time and time again, shown the the same thing: content marketing works. It works in large part because there's a hunger for substance in marketing - for folks to talk to one another, teaching and sharing knowledge, rather than talking past one another with fluffy pitches. But as the research has shown, it's not just a feel-good strategy, but a serious driver of growth. So how do you go about implementing it for your own organization?

In the past we've written about the increasing popularity of content marketing and its benefits, like the fact that it typically costs over 60% less than traditional marketing. And, as pointed out in the comments by reader Rhona Wilkins, "Content style ad formats are already replacing typical banner ads. Orgs like Outbrain, Adblade, Google, Kontera and others have changed how ads look. "

As content marketing rises in popularity, much has been written about the practice and there is no shortage of books on the subject. One such yet-to-be-published book is being authored by Bruce Clay and Murray Newlands.

Mastheading, an offering whose name oddly harkens the pilfering and plundering of the at-one-point sacrosanct editorial institution, launched yesterday as a turnkey solution for agencies and brands seeking custom content. Mastheading provides an affordable solution for streamlined content creation. All for just $15,000 a month. With a 6 month minimum commitment.

The new company is a joint venture of Knock Twice, a content strategy and PR agency, and GMD Studios, an innovation and experience design firm.

For a man who has the ability to predict presidential elections, Nate Silver's recent comment about the sales staff at The New York Times was shortsighted and displayed a surprising lack of understanding of the tectonic shifts that are occurring in publishing and advertising. It's as if he hasn't realized that the disintermediation of the ad sales process through trading desks, RTB and other forms of ad tech has had a decimating effect on CPMs and, hence, the ability of a publisher and its sales force to generate healthy revenue.

It's not news that media companies are struggling to maintain healthy revenue. Seismic shifts have occurred over the past two decades that have dramatically altered publishers' ability to leverage advertising to make ends meet. From programatic buying to banner blindness to the rise of owned media, publishers' revenue streams have been slowly chipped away to the point where many can no longer survive.

But there is hope. There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. While that might sound trite and overly optimistic, it's not.

Native advertising company Sharethrough today announced the launch of Sharethrough Sponsored Stories, a native advertising solution that helps brands promote articles, posts, reviews and more across the web. With Sharethrough Sponsored Stories, marketers can extend the reach of their content beyond owned and earned placements across Sharethrough's network of publishers.

Land Rover is one of the first brands to use Sharethrough Sponsored Stories in its content marketing programs, along with Pop Secret and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Content Marketing has (or should have by now) become an integral part of every marketer's game plan. After all, people need the right information at the right time when they are researching and deciding what to buy.

In this Yesler whitepaper, part of the Adrants whitepaper series, you will learn how to map your content to the needs and roles of your prospects as they move through the purchasing cycle. In the, you will learn:

How to use content to spark an ongoing conversation with prospective buyers

How to determine what kinds of content best meet the needs of your prospective buyers

The importance of buyer personas and communication channel preferences

What pitfalls to avoid as you create content for your own content marketing efforts

140 Proof, a technology that places ads on the top of streams across web, smartphone and tablet apps used to access Twitter, Facebook and other social networks, has launched a new offering that allows premium media brands to directly monetize their content without having to work through Twitter of 140 Proof.

Premium media brands have used social networks to expand their digital presence beyond their owned and operated properties. For example, ESPN properties have over 30 million combined followers on Twitter - rivaling the monthly audience of visitors to ESPN.com. But while social advertising platforms like 140 Proof, Facebook, and Twitter are monetizing branded media content and social audiences at the point of consumption, media companies have not been able to do the same.